H&M Group

As the fashion industry struggles to firm up a roadmap towards decarbonisation, one of the players that has been pro-active in trying to clean up its supply chain is the H&M Group. Kim Hellström, Senior Sustainability Manager, Climate at the Group speaks at length about the challenges in decarbonising the supply chain.

In today's world people move from one outrage to the next with as much ease as they swipe left over to the next reel. Last year’s Brazil cotton controversy has resurfaced not only because it has been a year to the revelation, but also because Better Cotton is itself pursuing the thread. And, the loopholes in Better Cotton's damage control exercise that was pointed out by Earthsight remain yawning.

An Apparel Impact Institute report calls upon apparel brands, textile manufacturers, policymakers, and financial institutions to take immediate action to accelerate decarbonisation even as it urges brands to commit to electrification targets and provide financial support to suppliers in building renewable electricity capacity and adoption, ensuring a more resilient and cost-effective supply chain.

For the first time ever Canopy's Hot Button Report has awarded the coveted 'green shirt' status to three global producers—India-based Aditya Birla, Austria-based Lenzing, and China-based Tangshan Sanyou.

Major fashion brands are using greater amounts of polluting synthetic textiles, a survey of 50 global firms— representing $1 trillion in market value and spanning fast fashion, sports, luxury and supermarket own-brands — reveals greater dependence on synthetic fibres that are driving fast fashion, and use of fossil fuel industry tactics, says a report by the Changing Markets Foundation.

Eight leading brands have joined a new collaborative initiative aimed to identify solutions and overcome challenges to begin decoupling revenue from production of new garments, advancing the long-term journey to make a circular economy for fashion a reality.

Fashion has some bad news for the planet. Most brands are actively “greenwashing” their emissions with none of the companies assessed reporting transparently on the terms, value invested or availability to suppliers, says a new Stand.earth report.

A clean chit notwithstanding, Better Cotton, in not addressing the loopholes with the standard itself, has only exposed itself to further investigation. And that’s despite the sugar-coated admissions that “we will take action to expand our due diligence process."

UK nonprofit Earthsight’s investigations reveal nearly a million tonnes of tainted cotton from some of the most notorious estates in Brazil to clothing manufacturers in Asia, and being supplied to fast fashion behemoths H&M and Zara.

The Paris Agreement goal of limiting climate change to 1.5°C could well remain a mirage, says the 2024 Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM) which evaluated 51 of the world’s largest companies, including 5 in the fashion sector.